Abstract

Superparamagneticnanostructures are becoming increasingly important as tools for biological and medical applications. We report the study of the movement of rod-shaped assemblies of superparamagneticnanocrystals under the action of a rotating magnetic field. The dynamic was characterized by means of light scatteringdetection at different frequencies and for different values of the intensity of the applied external field. The possibility to correlate the motion to the viscosity of the medium is used to monitor viscosity changes inside the liquid. We propose this technique as a valuable tool to monitor viscosity at microscale for application in biological studies.

Received 11 April 2011Accepted 10 August 2011Published online 21 September 2011

Acknowledgments:

We thank Alberto Barone, Luca Ceseracciu and Riccardo Carzino for a critical revision of the manuscript and for fruitful discussions. This work was partially supported by the European project Magnifyco (Contract NMP4-SL-2009-228622).

Abstract

Superparamagneticnanostructures are becoming increasingly important as tools for biological and medical applications. We report the study of the movement of rod-shaped assemblies of superparamagneticnanocrystals under the action of a rotating magnetic field. The dynamic was characterized by means of light scatteringdetection at different frequencies and for different values of the intensity of the applied external field. The possibility to correlate the motion to the viscosity of the medium is used to monitor viscosity changes inside the liquid. We propose this technique as a valuable tool to monitor viscosity at microscale for application in biological studies.

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Rod-shaped nanostructures based on superparamagnetic nanocrystals as viscosity sensors in liquid